Envelope dispenser



Oct. 16, 1951 Filed March 11, 1948 R. M. CAIN ENVELOPE DISPENSER 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

3025mm cmv ATTORNEY! Oct. 16, 1951 R. M. CAIN ENVELOPE DISPENSER 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 11, 1948 I NV E N TOR. ROPERTM cAzw ATTORNEYL) Filed March 11, 1948 R. M. CAIN ENVELOPE DISPENSER 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVEN'I'OR. 30955? M. UAf V' BY 6% {M ATTORNEYJ Oct. 16, 1951 R. M. CAIN ENVELOPE DISPENSER 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March 11, 1948 Oct. 16, 1951 R. M. CAIN 2,571,831

ENVELOPE DISPENSER 1 Filed March 11, 1948 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Jr- .5. ygygg JTTORNEYJ' Oct. 16, 1951 Filed March 11, 1948 R. M. CAIN ENVELOPE DISPENSER 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR. 3019537114. GA/N BY f ATTORNEIU Oct. 16, 1951 R. M. CAIN 2,571,831

ENVELOPE DISPENSER Filed March 11, 1948 7 Sheecs-Sheet 7 F 0N2 Mnzymaz BEGINNING or 2051710 MVELOPE ZfI-JLEAIIE ENVELOPE 112mm N ZLOPE DELI ERL r51 i j ,5'4 f: I

INVENTOR.

BYGMK ATTORNE YJ Patented Oct. 16, 1951 ENVELOPE DISPENSER Robert M. Cain, Charlotte, Mich., assignor to Wilcox-Gay Corporation, Charlotte, Mich., a

corporation of Michigan Application March 11, 1948, Serial No. 14,251

2 Claims.

My present invention relates to dispensing apparatus and more particularly to an envelope dispenser particularly adapted for use in connection with the coin recorder disclosed in applications Serial Nos. 783,668 and 783,725, the latter of which is now abandoned.

An object of my invention is the provision of novel simplified envelope dispensing means wherein the user places a coin in .an appropriate slide, pushes the slide in, and pulls the slide out.

The inward movement of the slide removes an envelope from the bottom of a stack and the outward movement of the slide delivers the envelope thus vremoved.

The foregoing and many other objects of my invention will become apparent in the following description and drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side view partly broken away of my .novel envelope dispenser showing the same ready for use with the user about to place .a coin in the slide.

Figure 2 is a side view corresponding to that of Figure 1 showing the slide pushed in and an envelope prepared for delivery.

Figure 3 is a side view corresponding to that of Figure 1 showing the envelope being delivered by the reverse movement of the slide.

Figure 4 is a side view corresponding to that of the prior figures showing the completion of the envelope delivery operation with the envelope in position where it may be removed from the mechanism by the customer.

Figure 5 is a view in perspective of my novel double action cam member for removing an envelope from the stack and then delivering the envelope.

Figure 6' is a view in perspective of a pressure plate for holding down the stack of envelopes and for indicating when the machine is empty.

Figure 7 is a top view in perspective with the cam member of Figure 5 removed showing the structure beneath the cam member.

Figures 8 to 11 are schematic views showing the operation of the cam plate of Figure 5 in conjunction with the base mechanism of Figure '7.

Referring first to Figures 1, 4, and 7, my novel envelope dispenser is housed in a casing having a front door hingedly connected at H to the remainder of the casing and provided with a lock [2 securing'the door It inpla'ce. i

All of the mechanism as shown in Figure '7 may be secured to the front door Ill which in turn may be connected to the casing in any suitable manner.

The'interior housing for the envelope dispenser '2 comprises, as shown in Figure '7, a front wall l4 and a rear wall I5. The front wall I4 is reentrantly bent to form the front ledges I! and i8 spaced by the gap IS. The rear wall I5 is reentrantly bent to provide the rear ledge 20.

The walls 14 and I5 are connected by the flanged side walls 22 and '23, the rear flanges 24 of the side walls being connected to the rear wall I5 and the front flanges 25 of the sidewalls being connected to the front wall l4 and through the front wall by appropriate means as, for instance, the screws 26 to the front panel ll] of the casing.

A coin slide 39 of standard construction is mounted in the lower portion of the casing, the coin slide being of the type which will receive a coin and which may be pushed in only when a coin is placed in the coin slot thereof.

This type of coin slide is well kno vn and requires no specific descriptionhere.

The slide member 3!! of the coin slide is ex tended rearwardly at 3| to carry the bracket 32. Bracket 32 is generally Z shaped as seen in Figures 1 and 7 having the base portion 33 secured to the rear section 31 of slide '39 by the bolts 34, the riser 35 and the platform 36.

Platform 36 carries the posts 31, 31, the upper ends f which are tubular and internally threaded to receive the bolts 38, 38.

The cam member 40 of Figure 5 is mounted on the posts 31, 31 by the bolts 38, 38 which pass through the grommeted openings 52, 42 of Figure 5 carrying the grommets 13, 43.

The openings 42, 42 of the cam 40 are wider in diameter than the bolts 38, 38, but the grommets 43, 43 provide a resilient means for interengaging or mounting the cam member to on the posts 31.

The grommets 43 are sufiiciently resilient to maintain the cam member 40 in the stable horizontal position shown in Figures 1 and 4. The grommets 43, 43 are, however, sufficiently soft and resilient so that the cam member .0 may tilt from the position of Figure l to the position of Figure 2 and then from the position of Figure 2 to the position of Figure 3 and back again to the position of Figure 4 which corresponds to the position of Figure 1.

The various positions of the cam member are also shown in Figures 8 to 11.

In orderthat the cam member may operate, an additional platform 58 is provided having the longitudinal slot 5|. The slot 5-! (Figures '7 to 11) at its maximum width is wider than the cam member at, but the material of the platform 59 defining the slot 51 has a-pair of inwardly extending camming lips 52, 52 adjacent the front and an additional pair of inwardly extending camming lip 53, 53 adjacent the rear defining opposite recesses, 54, 54, 55, 55, and 56, 56.

The cam member 45 as seen in Figure 5 as well as in Figures 2, 3, and 4 has a pair of wider dependent end sections Ell, 6| connected by a narrower section 62 defined by the recesses 63, 64. The dependent sections 60 and BI carry clamped thereto in any suitable manner as by the clamping plates l5, H and bolts l2, 73 the friction members I5, '15 preferably formed of rubber which extend above the top of the center or shank section 62.

The slotted platform or camrning platform 59 is mounted intermediate the supports ll, Hi, and for the bottom of the stack of envelopes 80 and the mounting 3! for bracket 32 of the cam member 40.

The cam member 4!! normally projects into the slot 5! as shown in Figures 1 and 4, portion 61 of the cam member registering with the recess 54 and portion 68 registering with the recesses 55; the cam member being in level or neutral position.

When the cam is pushed back by the movement of slide 30 from the position of Figure 1 to the position of Figure 2, then the cam end 6! rises up as shown in Figures 2 and 9. The side extensions of section 6! ride up on the camming lips 52, and the side extensions of section 50 ride down under the camming lips 53 to tilt the cam 40 so that the friction member I5 bears up against the under side of the stack of envelopes 88 and rubs against the bottom envelope.

This rubbing action pulls the forward end of the bottom envelope which is resting on supports H and [8 out from said supports so that the leading edge 8| of the bottom envelope drops down as seen in Figure 2.

T prevent the rear end 82 of the bottom envelope from getting caught in the rear of the mechanism, the downwardly depending bracket 83 is provided supported from the under side of flange 20, thereby causing the envelope end 82 to curl up as shown in Figure 2.

With the bottom envelope in the stack 80 thus released at edge 8!, the cam 40 on completion of it movement moves to the position shown in Figure 10 where cam section coincide with recess 56, cam section 6| coincides with recess 55, and the cam may now return to a neutral position in the pushed in or retracted position.

When the slide 35 is now pulled out and the cam is pulled out with it, the extending side of section of the cam rides up on the inwardly extending lips or flanges 53, and the section 6! rides beneath the inwardly extending lips or flanges 52 to tilt the cam to the position shown in Figure 3 where the section 16 of the cam now pushes the bottom envelope of stack 85 forward and the released edge 81 is pushed into the delivery slot 85 whence it maybe withdrawn as seen in Figure 4.

The cam at this point returns to the neutral position of Figures 1, 4, and 8.

By this simplified means, therefore, a simple resiliently mounted oscillating cam combined with the simple camming lips extending from the intermediate platform 50 into the slot 5| may be utilized to remove an envelope from the bottom of the stack and feed the envelope out through the delivery slot 85.

In Figure 6 I have shown the pressure plate 80 which is mounted on top of the stack of envelopes d envelope to make the operation of the device foolproof.

After the last envelope has been ejected, the plate 95 drop down to the delivery position but since the forward end of the plate is cut out at 9!, 9| matching the supports H and IE, it will drop down to a position where extension 92 containing the indicia such as the word Empty will fall past the recess I9 of the front support to where the tab or extension 92 will register with the slot 85.

When now a coin is dropped into the carrier or operator 30 and an attempt is made to move the operator 3!) in, the inflexibiity of the pressure plate 90 will retard such inward movement since the pressure plate 90 cannot curl up in the same manner as the bottom envelope of Figure 2.

Consequently, the arm 30 will not be moved in sufficiently far to deposit the coin and the user of the apparatus will pull out the arm 30 to try again. When he pulls out the arm 30, the pressure plate 90 will be pushed forward and the lip or extension 92 will emerge from the slot to indicatethat the machine is empty. The upstanding flange 94 of the pressure plate will prevent the emergence of the entire pressure plate so that it will not become lost.

Thus, an automatic means is provided for indicating that the apparatus is empty.

By the utilization, therefore, of a simple resiliently mounted cam member in cooperation with camming lips, I have provided a novel, inexpensive, commercially usable and practical envelope dispenser which will release an envelope or other sheet of material from the bottom of a stack of envelopes and then deliver the released envelope through a slot.

While my invention is, of course, directed primarily to the dispensing of envelopes, it is obvious that it may be applied to the dispensing of other flexible sheet material.

In the foregoing I have described my invention solely in connection with specific illustrative embodiments thereof. Since many variations and modifications of my invention will now be obvious to those skilled in the art, I prefer to be bound not by the specific disclosure herein contained but only by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a sheet dispenser for releasing and delivering a sheet from the bottom of a stack of sheets, a stack support comprising a front ledge and a rear ledge, the portion of the bottom sheet between the ledges being exposed; a cam membermovable longitudinally beneath the bottom sheet from a position adjacent the front ledge toward the rear ledge and back to the front ledge: said cam member having a forward friction element and a rear friction element directed toward the bottom sheet of the stack and normally disengaged therefrom; means for moving said cam member toward the rear ledge; additional means shifting said cam member during said rearward movement to bring the forward friction element into contact with the bottom sheet of the stack and pulling it off the front ledge; said cam member shifting in an opposite direction during return movement thereof toward the front to bring the rear friction element into contact with the bottom sheet of the stack pulling it off the rear ledge and pushing the sheet as a whole toward the front and beneath the front ledge; said additional means for shifting the cam comprising a platform, a slot in said platform; said cam mov ing in said slot; extensions from said platform entering said slot, and extensions from said cam member cooperating with the extensions of the platform and the recesses between said last-mentioned extensions to shift said cam as the same is moved.

2. In a sheet dispenser for releasing and delivering a sheet from the bottom of a stack of sheets, a stack support comprising a front ledge and a rear ledge, the portion of the bottom sheet between the ledges being exposed; a cam member movable longitudinally beneath the bottom sheet from a position adjacent the front ledge toward the rear ledge and back to the front ledge; said cam member having a forward friction element and a rear friction element directed toward the bottom sheet of the stack and normally disengaged therefrom; means for moving said cam member toward the rear ledge; additional means shifting said cam member during said rearward movement to bring the forward friction element into contact with the bottom sheet of the stack and pulling it off the front ledge; said cam member shifting in an opposite direction during return movement thereof toward the front to bring the rear friction element into contact with the bottom sheet of the stack pulling it off the rear ledge and pushing the sheet as a whole toward the front and beneath the front ledge; said additional means for shifting the cam comprising a platform, a slot in said platform; .said cam moving in said slot; extensions from said platform entering said slot, and extensions from said cam member cooperating with the extensions of the platform and the recesses between said last-mentioned extensions to shift said cam as the same is moved; the extensions of said cam being located at the forward and rear ends thereof and extending laterally; the forward extensions of the cam riding over extensions of the platform during rearward movement of the cam.

ROBERT M. CAIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 812,936 Kneisly Feb. 20, 1906 1,235,518 Halvorsen July 31, 1917 

